>> has never been done before. >> it's been done a couple of times. >> it has never -- >> jack kennedy lowered tax rates -- >> now you're jack kennedy. >> we're cutting our own defense. >> this one liner from joe biden became the most tweeted moment of the night. was he channeling lloyd bentsen. >> policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. >> well, i guess he accepts governor romney's position now because in the past he had has argued that there was rape and forcible rape -- >> good day. i'm andrea mitchell live in washington. the table is now reset for next week's matchup between the president and governor romney's after last night's combative contest in danville between the running mates. the vice presidential candidates sparred for 90 minutes in a

contentious debate that delighted their bases but what is the impact on independent and undecided voters. joining me david gregory moderator of "meet the press" and chris cizilla msnbc contributor and managing editor of post-politics.com. the big night in danville first to you, chris overnight quick reaction polls which we don't rely on because they're on-line polls. >> right. >> but your sense from your blog as to whether this was a win, place or draw? >> you know, i think everything your analysis in this debate fends on what you think of joe biden and joe biden's performance. paul ryan was there. he made some points. you know, i mean he did the things that i think republicans wanted him to do, not back down, look like he was credible, could be the vice president of the united states. biden was this huge figure for good or bad depending on your perspective. i think he would have won the debate andrea on points, narrowly, had he just controlled

a little bit more his off camera reaction. the two of you spend more time on television than i do but we all spend some amount of time on television. the camera can be on you when you're not talking. joe biden has been in politics and he knows that. to quote spinal tap turned the amplifier up to 11 when like 8 would have probably done the laughing and the kind of open disdain for paul ryan and paul ryan would be talking and you could in the split screen he would mouth that's not true. the democratic base loved it. but i thought he was a little too hot. >> stopped the hemorrhaging, fired the base. don't know what impact is on undecided voters. there were some serious policy points. he absolutely threw the state department and cia under the bus. contradicted the state department in what they had just testified to about benghazi, serious subject obviously, and sort of blamed the cia. let's take a look at this.

>> we weren't told they wanted more security again. we did not know they wanted more security again. by the way, at the time, we were told exactly -- we said exactly what the intelligence community told us, that they knew. that was the assessment. and as the intelligence community changed their view we made it clear they changed their view. >> and jay carney today just to go a little farther, was asked about this conflict. >> he was speaking directly for himself and for the president. he meant the white house. in over four hours of testimony the testimony that you just referenced, the other day, no one who testified about this matter suggested that requests for additional security were made to the president or the white house. these are issues appropriately that are handled by security professionals at the state department and that's what he was talking about. >> david, there is a continuing

controversy, hillary clinton asked about it today and said we knew what we knew at the time and investigating, she ducked the question. >> paul ryan came out among the more memorable lines is there's an act of terror against the united states we're going to call it what it is. this administration is caught in a lot of different explanations, complicated story, and you've got the intelligence community, state department and the white house. we cover washington. we understand there's a lot of competing voices when it comes to that. the buck stops at the white house with the president on these matters. and this was an act of terror as he says and there are a lot of different explanations. heated testimony about the fact that there were additional security requests. again this is just messy. i don't think -- look, martha raddtz asked direct questions i believe in moderators asking direct questions and getting answers. was it an intelligence failure. he didn't answer the question. and she did go back at a later point. this just -- they're just sewing more confusion about this rather than resolving the issue which is creating more of an ish. >> >> what's fascinating is that

mitt romney by almost everyone's account when they still did not know where chris stevens' body was or whether he was alive -- it's forgotten because of the overarching problem with the administration pointing fingers in all directions. the testimony on capitol hill was that there was real-time video and real-time reporting back to washington as the assault was taking place. at that moment they knew there was no protest, there was an invasion. >> right. >> and at the same time the initial intelligence say assessment that went to susan rice and sat down with you on "meet the press," what everybody is referring to, that intelligence assessment is what people say and hillary clinton again today said rice was operating off of. >> right. i mean this is the problem. so you know, where did this line of communication get so bad? why did it take so long?

let's also remember jay carney said it was self-evident it was terrorism but he said that, you know, more than a week later. i just think this is confusing. as a policy matter a lot of sort of accountability for this. still the question of where does it go. you know, what are we doing right now to investigate and track down the killers? and what does it mean more broadly for american policy in the region? i think the next layer of this is an area of complication for republicans and for this ticket which is beyond being rhetorically tougher than this administration, what is it that romney/ryan would do differently on some of these difficult matters? >> i wanted to show mitt romney in richmond today on this whole same subject. >> the vice president directly contradicted the sworn testimony of state department officials. he's doubling down on denial. >> to this day, to this day, we do not have a complete picture. we do not have all the answers.

no one in this administration has ever claimed otherwise. >> and that wasn't the only foreign policy issue. another was iran. also afghanistan. interesting partly because of martha raddtz's experience and expertise and talk about winners and losers, the winner of that debate was martha raddtz my friend and colleague at abc but also on iran you have two completely different postures. >> 100%. actually, for -- having said that, that paul ryan was kind of along for the ride i will say for a debate that was, it was supposed to be domestic and foreign policy it was both of those things but a lot of foreign policy. for a guy who has no real track record on foreign policy, been a member of congress they deal with these sorts of things but not certainly as deeply as joe biden had either in the senate or as vice president, he was i think fine on foreign policy. david's point, look the foreign

policy big foreign policy story we're talking about today is what the vice president of the united states said and now what the white house is saying to explain what he said. so, you know, paul ryan did not get himself spun around the axle in some way on foreign policy which is clearly not his natural area of expertise. >> mike allen's line is memorable he spoke foreign policy as a second language. he was channeling his advisers dan senor but didn't get in any trouble but a big distinction. the romney camp saying this administration has gone soft, sent certain signals to iran and has not been close enough to b.b. netanyahu and israel and the vice president saying very forcefully we have the toughest sanctions and we, not the bush administration, have the diplomatic credibility to get russia and china engaged and to finally get the world to back us on sanctions. >> i interviewed governor romney several weeks ago and he said we ought to continue the crippling sanctions in place, should have

been in place sooner. critical of the administration coming into office saying that we ought to try to engage iran diplomatically, should have backed the green revolution there, so obviously there's a difference of an approach to iran. a more hardline approach that you get from governor romney. to what end is not clear. set a different red line than this administration. we don't know the answer to that. look, president bush, president obama, and a president romney would all say we will not allow iran to acquire the nuclear know how basically to produce weapons. biden was saying clearly, look, it's not as bad as it seems, they don't have a weapon to mount this on. >> one point ryan seemed to agree with that saying we have more time. >> it's not clear to me where the real difference is in the policy. >> yep. >> rhetoric is fine. one of the challenge for republicans right now post the bush era if you're saying that basically the democrats are soft on foreign policy, what is the difference between that and the projection of american power under the bush era where you

invaded other countries and the like? is there some middle ground. if there is i don't know what that is. we're in the rhetorical stage after neo conservative sounding ticket -- >> and biden made -- >> being tougher is not a policy. >> biden made a virtue out of that for his base saying would you go to a war? would you start another war? and that is very resonate with democratic base and independents. >> saw joe biden doing everything he could on foreign policy speaking from a position of power. i've met netanyahu 39 times, you don't understand on afghanistan. look you may have the note cards in front of you, that tell you what to say on these things, i've lived this. >> one question david, how does this tee up the president's performance next week? does he have to be sort of goldilocks, much more agrees severe than last time clearly, but not amped up as much as joe biden. >> he never would be. only joe biden can pull off a joe biden performance like that. and even if it was over the top. that's just not president obama's style.

but i think he's going to be more aggressive about challenging what romney is saying. again, i think biden did it to a point where every other word of ryan's he was inter -- trying to intercept. i think that the main thing is, the big lament from the obama team is they felt they let romney back in. i think the president comes in, more aggressive, energetic, more fight. that's what we expect to see. this idea that you don't know who these guys are, they keep changing their positions, there's no truth there, that's the big argument. >> thanks so much, chris cizilla. we'll see you on "meet the press." >> thank you. >> and coming up, we'll check in with the campaigns, jim talon and debbie wasserman-schultz and ben affleck brings you the iran rescue you've nef seen niver se. this is "andrea mitchell reports." x. just picking up some, brochures, posters copies of my acceptance speech. great! it's always good to have a backup plan, in case i get hit by a meteor. wow, your hair looks great.

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i promise you the four people on this stage, we are way more fiscally conservative than the people they got running for president, vice president, and every other office. becau because, as i said in charlotte, we believe in arithmetic. >> bill clinton still clicking today in indiana, including a political dig against the romney/ryan ticket in his speech for state departments there. how does the romney team feel paul ryan did playing with -- that is playing with undecided voters in key swing states? joining me now former missouri senator jim talent adviser to the romney campaign. i haven't had enough sleep but presumably you've had more. how do you feel about the paul

ryan performance and where we go heading into this big debate next week? >> i thought congressman ryan did very well. i thought he won. he was presidential on that stage. he did a good job of explaining why governor romney will turn around the economy and i thought the vice president was a lot of the time was rude and, you know, when they prep you for debates andrea, they always teach you or they warn you, you got to be respectful of the format and audience because if you're not people don't like it and then they turn off what you're saying. they don't hear the substance of it. i thought the vice president dialed it down a little in the second half but the first half of the debate he was over the top. >> there were a couple points where paul ryan had to defend his own position where they differ with mitt romney's. one in particular was abortion. let's watch. >> the policy of a romney administration will be to oppose abortion with the exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. >> well, i guess he accept

govern's romney's position now because in the past he has argued there was rape and forcible rape. >> we tried to play that earlier but had problems with our tape technically in new york. but the point being, that as you know, paul ryan has a very firm position against -- with no exceptions was a cosponsor of one of the personhood amendments in congress and mitt romney has had differing positions, one this week in iowa was that he would not produce any legislation, nothing on his agenda if he's elected president and then they would walk that back the next day. he talked about exceptions for rape and incest. is this a problem with the base and with your own position which is very much anti-abortion? >> well, no, it's not a problem with me. my personal position is very similar to governor romney's. i thought both of these -- the candidates last night were sincere and made good statements on that subject. i do think the vice president

was sincerely wrong when he said that religious institutions are not going to have to provide contraceptives when it's against their crede. i think the law does that. but i thought they were both pretty good on that. i think this election is still about economics and in the first instance and then foreign policy and i thought vice president -- i thought -- i almost said vice president ryan. congressman ryan did a great job in explaining governor romney's position on those. i also think that -- >> go ahead. >> avoided mistakes and the vice president didn't. his statements on benghazi as you've been covering andrea, are going to be an ongoing problem for the administration. they really just enhanced the contradictions in the administration's policy. >> there were other issues for paul ryan, though, when it came to medicare and tax policy that have been questioned. what about the differences over medicare, health care?

he said that there were no -- that there was no study, no statistics that show increased costs in ryan one in the first medicare proposal which the congressional budget office says is not the case. ryan two is another issue. they were debating ryan one. do you think this is going to be a problem with seniors and the vote in florida and other key states? >> i don't think so. i think the romney ticket is winning on that issue and it's just uncontested that the administration takes money out of medicare, $700 billion to pay for obama care. you know, seniors understand that medicare needs to be reformed and there are reforms proposed from the left, reforms proposed from the right but they all have the point of saving medicare. making medicare stronger except what the president did with obama care. >> romney takes the same $716 billion out. the same number. >> the ryan plan is designed to make medicare stronger and it does it along the lines of medicare advantage and part d. it does it by giving seniors

more choices and counting on them to police the waste and the fraud in the system and that's worked very well with medicare advantage and medicare part d. aimed at saving medicare. obama care takes money out of medicare to pay for a program that seniors can't use and most people don't want and i can tell you, seniors understand once medicare is seen as a cash cow to pay for the federal budget no matter what it is you can wave good-bye to it. i think that's a powerful point. i thought paul did a good job last night talking about it and i'm sure governor romney will in the next debate. >> senator jim talent thanks for joining us. >> thank you, andrea. >> up next, the democratic take on last night's debate. party chair deppby wasserman-schultz. >> time for the your business entrepreneur of the week. former model and goldman sachs analyst created shoptiques that helps local boutiques that don't

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for generations. remember, all medicare supplement insurance plans help cover what medicare doesn't pay. and could save you thousands a year in out-of-pocket costs. call now to request your free decision guide. and learn more about the kinds of plans that will be here for you now -- and down the road. i have a lifetime of experience. so i know how important that is. there are critics that say joe biden had too much red bull before his debate. that his amped up attack at the beginning of the debate did delight a disspirited democratic

base, though. what about the swing voters, florida congresswoman and democratic national chair debbie wasserman-schultz joins me from sunny florida. you've heard the criticisms of joe biden. some said he came on too strong, smirking, mocking and interrupting and was basically too had heavy handed and jim talent just said basically rude. >> wow. you know when the other side is talking about facial expressions and arguing over whether the vice president smiled too much, that they know they lost on substance and i think the vice president did a fantastic job last night. he was clear and concise and detailed and quite frankly vice presidential. he showed he has the experience and gravitas and he demonstrated the reason why president obama asked him to run with him for vice president of the united states in the first place. i was very proud of him. >> he did disagree with what the state department testified to only the day before, about benghazi and the intelligence failure there.

>> well, vice president biden made it very clear and i think this is important in any, you know, any foreign policy situation whether it's an attack or any kind of a crisis, that we have an ongoing investigation here that we need to make sure that we have an administration in place like president obama has been that provides information that the american people need as we get it, that the administration has consistently provided that information, and then updated it when the intelligence community learned more and that the last thing we need to do, though, is what mitt romney did and was roundly criticized for right from the beginning before we even knew ambassador stevens was killed, mitt romney came out with a statement trying to capitalize politically on a tragic situation. what we need to do in foreign policy crisis situations like this is close ranks like vice president said last night. we need to all focus on being americans and not partisans in a situation like that. >> senator talent speaking on behalf of the romney campaign,

just told us that the medicare issue is working in their favor. what are you seeing in florida? >> well, i represent the state of florida and as you know in congress, and tens of thousands of senior citizens and i think that -- that jim talent was consuming a wish sandwich. he wishes that what he was saying were true and knows it's not. i mean, as you pointed out, they have the same $716 billion in savings that has allowed the obama care to add eight years of solvency to medicare. i can tell you that seniors across this country the last thing they want is for medicare to be turned into a voucher system. that's what paul ryan would do. and then what's even worse, is that they're trying to deceive seniors into believing that they don't have to worry about the romney/ryan plan for medicare affecting them now only they do. andrea because they repeal obama care. that means that they reopen the medicare prescription drug doughnut hole which saved the average senior in america about

$600 on the drugs. i have stood in line between too many seniors when five or six prescriptions come to the counter they have to leave two or three behind because they can't afford them all. under the current system with the doughnut hole closing thanks to obama care that's a thing of the past and mitt romney would force seniors to choose between medicine and meals again. he would eliminate the wellness visit that's free to seniors without a co-pay or deductible. they would have to pay for that again. the preventative screenings now available like colonoscopies, mammograms, like bone density scans those are things that can help seniors stay healthy to instead of having a sick care system which is what medicare has been, we can make it a wellness and prevention system and i know from personal experience, i know you do too as a breast cancer survivor early detection when you have a serious illness is a key for survival and for seniors that's critical. >> the polls, though, in florida have narrowed. do you think that is purely a reflection our nbc news/"wall

street journal"/marist poll showed a one point spread that is tighter than the margin of error obviously. is that a reflection of the president's poor debate performance? >> well, actually that's the same one-point spread the president and mitt romney each gained a point in the nbc/"wall street journal" from before the debate until after the debate. we've been running a campaign that is the most significant dynamic largest grassroots campaign that's ever been seen in the battleground states and known this race was going to tighten. it's going to be a close race. but when it comes to making sure that we continue to move our economy forward and that we have a president and a vice president who will fight for the middle class and working families as opposed to mitt romney and ryan who say let's go back -- let's double down on trickle down, let's go back to policies that crashed our economy, i think the choice is clear and that's why even though it's going to be close all the way to the wire, that at the end of the day,

president obama will be re-elected because i know most americans want to make sure when it comes to tax policy, economic policy, when it comes to investing in our future, we need to make sure that everybody has a fair shot and fair shake and plays by the same rules and that's not what they get from mitt romney and paul ryan. >> thank you very much. the democratic national chair, debbie wasserman-schultz. coming up arrested in the taliban shooting of pakistan teenager malala yousafzai and my conversation with actor and director ben affleck on his movie "argo" about the iran hostage crisis. 32 years ago. oh no, not a migraine now. try this... bayer? this isn't just a headache. trust me, this is new bayer migraine. [ male announcer ] it's the power of aspirin plus more in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. new bayer migraine formula.

in a triple action formula to relieve your tough migraines. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! oh...there you go. wooohooo....hahaahahaha! i'm gonna stand up to her! no you're not. i know. you know ronny folks who save hundreds of dollars switching to geico sure are happy. how happy are they jimmy? happier than a witch in a broom factory. get happy. get geico. fifteen minutes could save you fifteen percent or more. topping the headlines on "andrea mitchell reports" pakistani police have arrested three suspects in the case of the 14-year-old school girl who was critically injured in a taliban shooting only because of her crusade for the right to an education. the suspects are young, between the ages of 17 and 22. they say the mastermind is still

at large. the taliban says they had a target killing squad that carried out the attempt on malala yousafzai's life. religious authorities in laher issued condemn of the attack, islam is for encouraging women's education not stopping it. the teenager remains in a medically induced coma in a hospital. it is the final voyage for the "endeavour." the 77 ton shuttle is rolling through los angeles streets to reach its resting place at the california science center but it is not without controversy. workers had to take down light poles and power lines and most importantly nearly 400 trees for this 12-mile journey through the l.a. streets causing angry protests from residents along the route. "endeavour" goes on public display october 30th. and the european union won this year's nobel peace prize. in the same week that spain's credit was downgraded to junk bond status and the 27 member block is struggling to defend

its vision and financial life. it won for its six-decade, quote, advancement of peace and reconciliation. now to a story about an american embassy during a revolution in the middle east that is stormed by an angry mob. not benghazi. but iran. 1979. the hostage taking of american diplomats was the lead story on television, night and day for 444 days. the crisis helped make jimmy carter a one-term president. now, a rarely told true story of how six of those diplomats were rescued in a daring cia escape filmed by director and actor ben afterneck. the film called "argo." i asked what drew limb to the story. >> i knew it would be resonate in some ways talking about revolution and the unattended

consequences of revolution and us to get in business with the middle east. i had no idea it would become really tragically resonate as you mentioned what happened in benghazi, you know, and that i could look at the footage that i used to research this movie from 30 plus years ago, look almost exactly like what was on the news right now. that had a kind of profound effect on me. one wonders are we just repeating ourselves. what's it going to take to get out of this cycle. >> when you look at the opening sequences of "argo," it's this assault on the embassy and it's so gripping how do you create that kind of scene as a director? >> that was one of the biggest -- my biggest concerns because i knew that it needed to have that sort of raw energy. that's what we had to get. several thousand extras and since we were in turkey we had to teach them slogans an we had to sort of try to maintain folks' energy level. the really -- the real challenge was that students revolution,

most of the students were in school, and most folks were working, so most of the extras we could get to do that were people who had retired. we had to kind of retirees revolution. >> how did you get involved in this. >> i recognized this was a thriller, a comedy, a movie about political intrigue in the cia and all true and if i could make that cogent story i would have the opportunity to do something really special and this is my favorite thing i've ever been involved in. >> the cia is controversial. heros to some, villains to others. you have managed to really latch on to a heroic aspect of a gutsy creative guy. tell me about your character whom you play. >> for a lot of time i think the cia was used after the nixon era and vietnam as a kind of bad guy prop in movies. someone did something bad it was a secret cia agents or what have you. then post-9/11 i think people changed their view a little bit and said, you know, these

hard-working americans who are sacrificing a lot on our behalf to try to keep us safe among other things. for me, i really -- i want to show the kind of brown bag nature of the cia. not the cool super sexy action movie version, but the real version where you have to be away from your wife and kids and can't tell people where you're going and bureaucracy that's stymieing you. >> the guy i play is a real american hero his name is tony and won the intelligence star for this mission. one of the 15 most important cia operatives of all time. >> i have an idea. they're a canadian film crew for a science fiction movie. we fly out together as a film crew. >> something i think classy and elegant and in the fundamentally in the american character, you know, in that sort of service that the cia performed that it's not done for riches, it's not done for credit, it's done because it it's the right thing to do. even when he gets a medal he can never tell or show anybody.

he's supposed to die with your secrets, not do it for glory, but for a country and for -- and because it's the right thing to do. that was, you know, really nice value to reflect and our clandestine service folks sacrifice for us a great deal and we've seen again tragically our diplomats who go overseas and put themselves in harm's way like the six diplomats in this movie, you know, sacrifice a great deal so the clandestine and foreign service to me were something that was really nice to profile in this movie. >> when you look back at that experience, and recreating tehran, do you think about the geopolitics of it? >> we're still entangled with them in this thorny antagonistic way. i tried to make a movie as much as possible, that cans be politicized, nobody could wrap themselves in the flag and say this proves my point about doing one thing or the other. we were going to come up before an election and did not want to

have it -- my republican friends and democrat friends i want to see it and enjoy it. so, i stuck to just sort of telling facts as well as i could and hoped that i wouldn't step on any land mines metaphorically. >> back in the day i knew a number of reporters knew that the canadians were hiding in the residence. we knew the numbers of missing hostages and that there were six that were not accounted for and a little bit of reporting we kept that all secret. the cia is very good at keeping secrets apparently because we had no idea this subplot was going on. >> yes. the cia seemed pretty good at keeping that secret. people's lives depended on it. that was part of some of the, you know, documentaries that you mentioned that there were people who sort of started finding out because they could do the math and the state department never confirmed the actual number because, obviously, that would create a discrepancy. >> how much of tony mendez's story was accurate in terms of the idea sounds crazy, selling it to the bureaucracy getting

the signoff for it? >> it's completely accurate in the sense that they escaped the embassy and were staying there and no one knew how to get them out, no real ideas. first people weren't focusing on those six, they were focusing on the embassy. then turned to the six, what are we going to do for people? >> what do you want the aud dwroens take away from -- audience to take away interest this. >> about the interconnectiveness of people, nations cooperating and using diplomacy for the sake of peace and solving problems and saving lives peacefully. >> the heroism of tony mendez, the cia operative, was declassified by president clinton in 1997 so his intelligence star, his medal was then known, but it was not widely explained. and now in this movie which opens tonight, "argo" is the movie, the story is finally told. ben affleck, of course, the director and the star of "argo." and, of course, i'll have more of the interview on

"nightly news" tonight. and coming up, my all-star panel speaking of stars and their take on the debate. ruth marcus, karen, josh greene and michael crowley joining me next. [ female announcer ] most whitening strips promise full whitening results in two weeks or more. rembrandt® deeply white™ 2 hour whitening kit is proven to quickly remove surface stains and deep stains in just two hours. [ female announcer ] rembrandt® deeply white™: whiten in just 2 hours.

i just finished a bowl of your new light chicken pot pie soup and it's so rich and creamy... is it really 100 calories? let me put you on webcan... ...lean roasted chicken... and a creamy broth mmm i can still see you. [ male announcer ] progresso. you gotta taste this soup. to the week that was and what lies ahead on the campaign trail this coming week. here is my panel to weigh in, josh greene, senior national correspondent with bloomberg business week, editorial page writer for "the washington post" ruth marcus, "time" magazine's michael crowley and karen tum multi with "the washington post." thank you very much all. first to you, ruth, what was your immediate reaction to this matchup last night? >> well, you know, i don't think that the obama team necessarily has the goldilocks balance right quite yet. the president was too cool and i thought biden for my taste the vice president, was too hot. i was really worried as i was watching it that from the point

of view of the obama/biden team that people would find him just a little too smirky, a little too aggressive, a little too rude, a little too smiley at inappropriate points. so that was definitely a better piece on the golly locks style than the president had it, but i'm still looking for that just right moment. >> now karen, you wrote that it was a do over as much as a debate. >> it was. >> discuss. >> well, i think that, you know, he was out there as much as anything, he was out there to try to undo some of the damage from president obama's own disappointing performance and he had two audiences. he had the disspirited democratic base who probably was thrilled to see him feisty and fighting, but i agree with ruth, for that slice of the electorate that is potentially on the fence here, or was feeling a little, you know, upset and leaning

toward romney as a result of that earlier debate it may have come off as his manner may have come off as either disrespectful or at worse ba foonish. >> michael, what about paul ryan and his approach? was he, you know, too cold, compared to biden's heat, or just right? >> it was a little bit cold and robotic, a little bit the budget chairman. i will say i think he -- there was a dog that didn't bark here to say that here's a guy that's 42 years old, who's going to be a heartbeat away from the presidency, has no real national security experience up against a chairman of a guy who's been chairman of the foreign relations committee and knows foreign policy inside and out. he passed the bar on national security and foreign affairs. moments he seemed practiced and vague on afghanistan, yes. had he made a big gaffe, mispronouncing the name of a terrorist group or confusing iraq or iran could have been a disaster. one other thing i would add i did not think he made his best

case on medicare. my story in time focuses on whether the ryan plan's proposal for medicare are going to be a problem in a state like florida and other swing states. i thought biden got the best of the argument. ryan i've seen him give better pren traces trying to explain why medicare has been saved in his view and didn't see him at his best. >> they focused -- biden cleverly focused on ryan one which is not the romney endorsed plan, and which is -- >> the $6400 number not really accurate. >> he could have said we've moved on from that and refined that. could have come up with a way of explaining it from ryan's perspective. >> i thought biden made a good emotional connection with seniors and said trust your instincts speaking generationally. >> josh green, talk about bloomberg business week, your cover story are we better off than four years ago. that is basically the theme as you point out of this campaign. >> i think it's one of the things ryan was effective in arguing last night was that we weren't. we went back a few months ago

and decided to answer the famous question that ronald reagan posed are you better off than four years ago. most people forget he followed that up with three other questions, is unemployment better, easier to buy things and is the u.s. more respected in the world today than it with you when jimmy carter took office. >> how did you answer those? >> we went and compiled -- the entire issue is charts, graphs, articles but for the respect in the world we went and polled cab drivers in different countries all over the world. >> the old cab driver poll. >> so we tried to sort of take that -- >> i thought we always made up those cab drivers. >> we found real ones and for the most part we are more respected in the world at least according to the cab drivers. >> there were a few light moments. this was sort of the irish coming out of both joe biden and paul ryan. >> this is a bunch of stuff. here's the deal -- >> what does that mean, a bunch of stuff. >> it means it's simply inaccurate. >> it's irish. >> it is. we irish call it mularkey.

>> they did -- their personalities and know each other they have let's face it been across the table from each other in the big budget negotiations to try to avoid the debt ceiling crisis. and they were the ones carrying the ball for each of their teams. so -- >> they're both pretty likable guys and i don't want to say likable enough, they're both actually quite likable and i think that came through. the malarkey exchange was hysterical. little bit of self-promotion but i have a blog at washingtonpost.com that compares that section and other sections of the debate to david mattic play except the difference with it sort of jumping in and everything, but david i point out never used the word malarkey. >> a literary touch. >> karen, you've been out on the campaign more than almost anyone. now where does this move? does president obama bring his a-game at hofstra and what about that town hall format you're going to have 20 questions

derived from more than 80 people i am told that are independent voter or undecided voters, that gallup is choosing and candy crowley the next moderator will choose the 20 questions. this is a different format. >> it is. and i would hope that after bot president obama's and joe biden's performances that somebody explains to them what a split screen is and that you are always on camera. >> amen. >> i think that this is probably going to be a format that president obama is going to do better in just because it is a format that he does a lot of out on the campaign trail. he hadn't been in a sort of stylized debate for four years. but this is the kind of thing he does. i think he does generally pretty well. and candy will be certainly under.gun not only for the questions she picks but making sure that these candidates don't

just sort of slough them off, asking the follow-up questions that get real answers out of them. >> which, of course, from my perspective, martha raddatz did superbly. >> martha raddatz did a great job. it was a reminder that specificity was important. she opened some questions towards the end that were more open-h open-ended. it may tell us something, somebody who has been in war zones, who has seen the point of the spear of decisions decided in washington may lead to life and death. >> you don't mean bs, you mean stuff, malarkey. >> no malarkey from you. thank you very much. >> and a great team. what political story will make headlines in the next 24 hours?

we have a special take on that. that's next on "andrea mitchell reports." they have teachers... ...with a deeper knowledge of their subjects. as a result, their students achieve at a higher level. let's develop more stars in education. let's invest in our teachers... ...so they can inspire our students. let's solve this.

what's going to happen in the next 24, chris cillizza is back with us. >> come on. >> we're talking about baseball. we're talking about the baltimore/yankee game at 5:07 and that -- >> the main show that people really care about, nationals/cardinals, i will say i'm rooting heavily for the nationals. my wife was born and raised in st. louis. i just zone the ask her. >> we love your wife for that. we have our thing here. >> yes. >> it's all about natitude. gio gonzalez is pitching. i hope he does better than the seven walks the other night. i saw it in danville, kentucky, went nuts and realized i was at an anheuser-busch venue and that's not such a good thing.

>> they're heavily invested in the cardinals success. >> good to see you, chris cillizza. >> good, nats. tamron hall is up next. >> it's torture for a rangers fan to listen to this. >> that's why -- that's not why we did it. >> andrea mitchell, good thing i love you. in our next hour -- >> love you, too. >> vice president joe biden is in wisconsin, home turf, do i have to tell you, of congressman paul ryan. fewer than 24 hours after the so-called joe show, aka, the vice presidential debate ended. who is getting the better reviews on substance? we'll get reaction from politico's rachel smolkin, mr. collegio, mr. smerconish and mr. boykin.

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